
The Home—Primary Center of Education
LESSON 7
❑
Sunday
November 7
Part 1
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and
HOME, THE was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel."
FOUNDATION
FOR EDUCATION
Luke 1:80
wisdom, the Lord planned that John would receive his educa-
tion. The home was his school, and the vastness of the desert
The parents of John lived in the country, where, in His
his opportunity to become acquainted with God.
Not all parents today are required to live in the desert, but
every parent should recognize a distinct obligation to make
the home the first school of the child. In effect, the home is
the matrix where are molded the values that will be held later,
and where is developed the personality which will mark the
child in his mature years.
What advice did Paul give to parents with respect to
their children? Eph. 6:4.
The home should be the base for educating children.
"It is in the home that the education of the child is to
begin. Here is his first school. Here, with his parents as in-
structors, he is to learn the lessons that are to guide him
throughout life—lessons of respect, obedience, reverence, self-
control. The educational influences of the home are a decided
power for good or for evil. . . . If the child is not instructed
aright here, Satan will educate him through agencies of his
choosing."—Counsels
to Teachers,
page 107.
THINK IT THROUGH
What kind of setting have I provided for the charac-
ters my children are forming?
"Jesus came to this earth to accom-
plish the greatest work ever accom-
plished among men. He came as God's
ambassador, to show us how to live
so as to secure life's best results. What
were the conditions chosen by the in-
finite Father for His Son? A secluded
home in the Galilean hills; a household
sustained by honest, self-respecting
labor; a life of simplicity; daily conflict
with difficulty and hardship; self-sacri-
fice, economy, and patient, gladsome
service; the hour of study at His moth-
er's side, with the open scroll of Scrip-
ture . . . —these were the conditions
and opportunities of the early life of
Jesus."—"The Ministry of Healing,"
pages 365,366.
"John was the son of their old age,
he was a child of miracle, and the par-
ents might have reasoned that he had
a special work to do for the Lord and
the Lord would take care of him. But
the parents did not thus reason; they
moved to a retired place in the country,
where their son would not be exposed
to the temptations of city life, or in-
duced to depart from the counsel and
instruction which they as parents would
give him. They acted their part in de-
veloping a character in the child that
would in every way meet the purpose
for which God had designed his life....
They sacredly fulfilled their obligation."
—"Child Guidance," page 23.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: "The Adventist Home ," pages 177-186.
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